August was a very exciting month for me due to lots of birthday celebrations, company, demonstrations and I was happy to welcome Amanda to my Heirloom Treasures kingdom; she has taken Kaitlin’s place and she is now putting up the Musings for me. Amanda is a WordPress pro, so my websites are in good hands, Thank you Amanda!
I am typing this on my new Lenovo PC; thanks to the Geek Squad the switchover was easy, we only lost one important file which, thank goodness, is still residing on my laptop and can be transferred. The new Lenovo automatically features Windows 11, so I have quite a learning curve ahead of me, since I was used to Windows 10 and like it much better. I lost all my shortcuts to my most important folders and must get used to the different system of locating files I use all the time. Oh well, it’s progress!
There were lots of birthday activities around the beginning of the month, flowers and dinners and even a surprise party with my lovely card shark friends!
My friend JoAnne, who lives close to Tampa, came to visit me the second week in August. She wanted to be back home by the end of the month which is the beginning of hurricane season. Well, it was a good plan, because she is currently evacuated inland due to hurricane Idalia.
When she was here, I decided to take a little vacation with her, the weather was perfect, and I had nothing important to do. So we went to all the fun places Dave and I used to go, like Biltmore after 5, where passholders can bring guests in the evening. We enjoyed the grounds (acres of sunflowers), the shops at Antler Village, the winery and gift shop and ice cream Sundays at the Creamery for dinner.
JoAnne and I met 30 years ago in Franklin, NC, so a day trip to Franklin to see old friends was also on the itinerary. Our little town has changed a lot; several of the old traffic lights were replaced by round-a-bouts, which tickled us…………to see such progress in our little town.
Another day took us to Brevard and Dupont National Forest. It is on the border to South Carolina and the Cesar’s Head overlook is one of my favorite places to go. We had clear weather and beautiful views all the way to Charlotte.
Of course, I had to take JoAnne to the Folk Art Center and further up the Parkway to Mount Mitchell and all the way to Little Switzerland.
Our last day trip was to Chimney Rock and Lake Lure, where Dirty Dancing was filmed. There is an annual festival to celebrate the movie. We took a picnic and enjoyed more great views from the top of the rock before checking out the historic Lake Lure Inn. Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze had lovely rooms at the inn during the filming. On another floor Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald kept a suite.
Brass plaques commemorate those special visitors. There is a beautiful formal dining room, player pianos and hundreds of pictures of celebrities that spent time at the Inn.
On JoAnne’s last day here, I received a beautiful Irish lace tablecloth to restore. It had many broken connectors and loose threads but was overall in very good shape. It is now ready to be blocked and return home.
This past weekend I spent demonstrating at the Folk Art Center on The Blue Ridge Parkway. We were in the middle of a heatwave, and it was back to school time. The number of visitors was down somewhat from our usual late summer attendance. We hope to see a lot of visitors for our annual Heritage Day event on September 16. Click here for event details and come on by to enjoy our demonstrating artists in the auditorium and the musicians and cloggers outside.
You may also want to witness the annual Whimmy Diddle Competition at 1 pm.
https://www.southernhighlandguild.org/event/heritage-day-2023-09-16/2023-09-16/
That will be the highlight of my month of September. I would love to see you there!
Stay cool and enjoy the last days of summer!
“I do what I love and I love what I do.”
New in the studio:
New rattles for the baby corner at the Folk Art Center.
My baby corner at the Folk Art Center.
Restoring this Irish Lace beauty.